Ryan, Barry J

Abstract
This paper examines power relations along the African coast of the Indian Ocean in terms of space and time. Spatial strategies, it argues, are swiftly emerging through zoning mechanisms which territorialise the governance of ocean space. These strategies can supplement and disrupt more traditional temporal strategies, which facilitate speed and freedom of movement for commercial and military traffic. The article focusses on the US proposition to provide maritime security sector reform to African coastal states as a form of temporal strategy designed to shape new zoning practices in favour of freedom of movement. The paper concludes by arguing that the US strategy implies a policing approach that generates maritime surveillance capacities along land–sea lanes of communication. It contrasts this surface form of knowledge with the need for African coastal states to generate the sort of oceanographic data presently undergirding the emerging blue economies of Europe.
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